MEAL Specialist  

Country/Region: Uganda

Location: Gulu

Organization: Save the Children International

Join us to lead sustainable change for children:

• Be part of a GLOBAL and DIVERSE technical community
• Get EXPOSURE in many different contexts
• Test and scale up INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
• Influence policies that affect MILLIONS OF CHILDREN

OVERVIEW 

Are you passionate about being an advocate for children? Do you want to use your expertise to bring about lasting change for children and be a part of an inspiring, dynamic global movement?

ROLE PURPOSE: 

The MEAL Specialist will be responsible for the overall MEAL deliverables of the program.  The TFC program focuses on four major areas: (i) All children learn and are safe in a quality and inclusive learning environment, (ii) Prevalence of child protection violations reduced among families and communities in selected districts, (iii) Central and local governments of Uganda and other duty bearers respect, protect and deliver child rights, and are held accountable by children and the civil society and (iv) Enhanced adaptive capacity, and reduced vulnerability to the impacts of climate change at the household, community, and institutional level.

Sounds interesting? Read more below

THE ROLE 

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

A: Program Design:

• Contribute to project design by assessing the needs and capacities of the target communities,
• Actively involved in participatory community’s problem analyses for program design.
• Document critical lessons-learned and challenges to be used for program design.

B: Set up a strong MEAL system and operationalize MEAL in the TFC

• Ensure that MEAL planning and discussions are held with all TFC staff, partners, and key stakeholders before and after the refinement year meetings by liaising effectively and regularly with partner MEAL teams.
• Support the development and review of the TFC key documents (Theory of Change (ToC), Log frame, M&E plan, Indicator Performance Tracking Table (IPTT) and Performance Indicator Reference Sheets (PIRS)) in close collaboration with the partner team.
• Develop routine monitoring data gathering forms and reporting formats for tracking and maintaining metrics vis a vis targets in the DIP and (IPTT) to flag/address required performance improvements monthly.
• Conduct, analyze and disseminate periodic outcome monitoring, evaluations, program studies and research to be used for assessing TFC Performance and progress on the ToC.
• Analyze MEAL data from the project staff and produce strategic analyses for the TFC technical and management team to use for assessing TFC performance and progress.
• Implement quarterly data quality assurance activities according to the M&E plan by performing data verifications and spot-checks.
• Conduct monthly Quality Benchmark (QB) monitoring (at least 80% of activities implemented) and ensure that improvement actions are developed & logged into the action tracker for follow-up.

C: Design and operationalize Accountability mechanism 

• Facilitate project & partner staff to set up relevant contextualized feedback and complaints infrastructures, mechanisms, and approaches to receive and respond to feedback and complaints from beneficiaries including children.
• Collect and manages complaints and feedback in close coordination with project and partner staff. Tracks timeliness of response to complaints and maintains an updated TFC complaints tracker.
• Ensure a regular ‘Accountability to Beneficiaries’ analysis report is generated and disseminated for use and uptake among TFC project management and partners.
• Provide consortium partners’ capacity strengthening and review support to establish and use strong accountability mechanisms Adopt Child Safeguarding and Safe programming into accountability mechanisms for the consortium.
• Ensure that all research with human subjects is submitted, per Save the Children’s Ethics Policy, to the Ethics Review Committee to minimize any harm and ensure informed consent.

D: Integrate ICT in the project MEAL system 

• Enhance use of digital data collection on TFC, through use of Kobo, ODK, or other programs.
• Ensure safeguards and integrity of data management on MIS and/or other online platforms.

E: Build culture of Learning and Knowledge Management that ensures utilization of data for decision making

• Participate/coordinate in the design of quantitative and qualitative participatory TFC evaluations (baseline, annual and final evaluations), assessments, reviews, and other special studies in conjunction with Consortium partners.
• Support the project team in the development of information sharing materials/briefs, posters and brochures, and dissemination of project information materials to relevant stakeholders, partners, and beneficiaries.
• Support conceptualization, planning and implementation of learning events/activities in collaboration with consortium partners to enhance cross-learning.
• Facilitate documentation of the TFC results, impact, best practices, and significant changes.
• Document learnings and best practices; disseminates learnings, reports, publications and participates in learning sessions to all stakeholders, and ensures that the lessons learnt are utilized to inform programming and advocacy.

F: Planning, Budgeting and Reporting:

• Coordinate with Technical and operations teams for appropriate allocation of MEAL resources and budget in annual Pipeline & work plans.
• Provide technical support on all projects planning and reporting. Specifically, it provides day-to-day direct support to the Project team in preparation and reviewing of annual and quarterly Activity plans and reports, ensures that project reports meet NORAD and Save the Children International (SCI) reporting standards.
• Oversee the MEAL budget utilization and ensure timely implementation of MEAL activities.
• Support the TFC Team Leader and thematic leads in the analysis of Activity Tracking Tool (ATT) and the presentation during regular staff meetings
• Ensuring data-driven and evidence-based reporting and data driven decision making on delivering KPIs by putting in place mechanisms and procedures for electronic data capture, analysis and reports generation, including proper filing of all M&E documents for easy access and retrieval.
• Support regular and accurate project performance reporting using the Project Reporting Information Management and Evidence System (PRIME)

G: Communication and Networking 

• Create and sustain positive working relationships internally with other technical staff; externally with the Consortium partners, district local governments and other stakeholders, and maintain an up-to-date understanding of key development trends in the project area.
• Ensure coordination with the government activities and structures in the implementation of TFC Project.

To be a strong supporter and advocate for children in this role you will need to have:

• Minimum of a relevant bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Quantitative Economics, or other relevant discipline with Post Graduate training in M&E or Project planning and Management.
• Master’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation will be an added advantage.
• Minimum of five years working experience in monitoring and evaluation system development and its coordination/implementation (preferably in environmental and natural resource sector with an International NGO or Private sector).
• High level of competence on multiple statistical analysis packages (ideally SPSS, STATA, R, ArcGIS, NVivo, and/or ATLAS. ti)
• Experience of digital data collection and accountability systems and the use of mobile data collection platforms (like Kobo Collect, Comcare, Epi Info, Form builder, etc).
• Demonstrable track-record in data management, with the ability to manage large databases.
• Experience interviewing community members and leaders and/or facilitating focus group discussions (especially with youth & Women)
• Understanding of the basic standards to ensure data quality.
• Experience with monitoring and evaluation techniques to assess the quality and effectiveness of program strategies for program learning, adaptation, and innovation where necessary, with a clear way forward and ensuring buy in
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner to a range of stakeholder audiences.
• Previous experience with WASH, adolescent, and/or behavior change programming preferred.
• Excellent communication and report writing skills.
• Computer literacy, particularly in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills in English, with experience working in multicultural, multi -location, values driven teams.
• Commitment to Save the Children values.

Desired

• Strong analytical skills and strategic planning abilities.
• Ability to establish and maintain conducive collegial relations and perform effectively as a member of a team.
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in multi-cultured environment with people from diverse beliefs and cultural backgrounds.
• Ability to speak some of the local languages in the project operational areas.
• Experience of M&E and beneficiary accountability systems